Instant noodles, instant oatmeal, instant coffee. The word instant is the mark of convenience in a busy modern world. And of course with digital photography you can share your work instantly on social media. But as with all things instant there is an unseen cost in quality and experiencing. Instant coffee may be handy but it just doesn’t have the aroma or flavour of a freshly made latte from your favourite cafe. Nor do instant noodles contain the same layered subtle flavours of pork stock, meat and vegetables as a bowl of ramen from the local noodle bar. And social media has robbed most people of one of the greatest experiences of photography for over a century - the print. Even today - no, especially today - it’s important to print your photos and here’s why.
Book It
There are many different ways to print and display your photos but in this article I’m going to talk about having your work printed in books. As we shoot so many photos due to the convenience of mobile photos and small high quality digital cameras it’s hard to choose just one photo for a print to hang on the wall. And there are many online companies that provide excellent book printing services. Each year for the last 5 years I have printed the best of our family photography in a hardcover book and give it to my wife as part of our anniversary. So we have yearly accounts of the best moments of our family life together. It’s a wonderful experience to browse through a volume every now and then and relive old times.
Size Matters
One of the greatest drawbacks of social media is the smart phone. No matter how big your phone, the screen is still a very small and limiting way to view photos. Despite the Instagram craze the phone is actually not suited for viewing photographs at all. Many pictures contain beautiful details that no one will ever see, and zooming in is not the right way to experience them. What may seem like a busy thumbnail can make a beautiful image when printed at a proper size.
Tempus Fugit
A picture you look at again and again it’s worth more than a thousand likes on Facebook. The biggest problem with social media is its fleeting nature. It’s up there in the spotlight for a few minutes, if you are lucky, probably more like a few seconds, and then it’s gone. Buried under gigabytes of other peoples posts in no time at all. If it’s even possible it will take a long time to find what you posted last month or even last year. A book of your work you can be picked off the shelf to browse through photos from any year in the past... I hesitate to use the word... instantly. And when flipping through the pages of a book you naturally give each photo more attention than anyone does when scrolling through feeds. Time each image deserves.
Virtual v. Tactile
There is an unexplained element that is added to the viewing of any photo just because you can touch it. You can choose different types of paper to add texture to your photography which has a real impact on the way you view your work. And turning the page is a much more natural and pleasing action than scrolling with your thumb.
Celebrate
And there is the added element of achievement holding in your hand a volume of work that you have produced. You’ve spent a lot of effort taking these photos of your family so at the end of each year you should take time to collect them, edit them (see my last blog entry on editing your photos) and celebrate your accomplishment.
Every time you look at a photo of your child and see that familiar expression you feel how much you love them. On the page you can print their faces at real size and the emotional experience is much greater than that of the small screen. Imagine looking at photos of your child throughout his or her childhood at their real size. It‘s a powerful sensation that the phone cannot produce and it’s well worth the small expense of printing a book. I would recommend it for anyone that enjoys taking portraits of their family as a rewarding experience and a great way of recording your life and times. Don’t waste anymore time, start putting your first book together today.
Here is an excellent source and review of the best photo book printing services in 2019.
I use Blurb which has been around a long time and has good format options as well as excellent printing quality. I can design it right inside of Adobe Lightroom and uplaod to Blurb from there. However they don’t deliver to China so I have to send it to a fried to redirect here. Expensive and clumsy but still worth it for the quality and reliability.